The best companies for customer service are 18 times more likely to increase customer satisfaction and 45% more likely to increase customer retention, according to research into 150 companies by customer experience management consultancy Empathetica, and Aberdeen Group

Among the top 20% of companies surveyed (those described as ‘best in class'), 81% had processes for getting customer feedback to decision-makers while nearly two-thirds had processes for acting on customer feedback across all departments and channels. This contrasts with 43% and 8% respectively among those in the bottom third of companies measured (the ‘laggards').
 
According to the survey, best-in-class organisations are more than three times as likely as laggards to analyse customer feedback to find actionable insights and twice as likely as laggards to inform customers about how their complaints or suggestions have been acted upon.

Gary Edwards, EVP, client services, Empathica, said: "The harsh reality of a global economic recession has put companies under more pressure than ever to improve customer satisfaction and retention."

Jeff Zabin of Aberdeen Group said: "The findings show the improvements that companies have realised as a result of customer feedback initiatives. By putting in place the right technologies, organisational resources, business processes and performance metrics, organisations can leverage customer satisfaction to grow and succeed during these difficult times."